An Adventure in Babysitting and Apples
by MagixPawn
Summary: An unexpected babysitting job is thrown on Kel and now it's her duty to watch her nephews and niece. It would probably have been safer if she hadn't gotten up that morning.


Summary: When an unexpected babysitting job is thrown on Kel, it is her duty to watch her nephews and niece. 

A/N: Kel doesn't originally go through what I intended to have her go through, but I didn't feel like having her deal with a 3 ½ year old, a 2 year old and a 5 month old the way I do. I couldn't torture the poor girl like that. This is my first fully finished story. Flame all you like. It's no masterpiece._ _

DISCLAIMER: The only characters that belong to me are Parrin, Luc, and Aliénor. Everything else belongs to Tamora Pierce 

**AN ADVENTURE IN BABYSITTING AND APPLES **

Fourteen-year-old, Keladry of Mindelan, knight in training, awoke early that June morning with the knowledge that something wet was in her ear. Something wet and cold. "Jump, remove your nose from my ear please." 

The dog whined. Kel opened her eyes and immediately heard a knock on the door. Sighing, and slowly dragging her-self out of bed so as not to crush any sparrows nesting on the blanket, she rose, threw on yesterday's breeches and shirt, and answered the knock. 

It was Tilaine, Anders' wife. Before Kel could say a word, Tilaine whirled around and walked away from the door. Kel poked her head out and watched her older sister-in-law storm briskly down the hall. _Well that was odd, _she thought. 

Kel felt a tug on her shirt and looked down. There stood two of her nephews, Parrin and Luc, and a niece, Aliénor. 

"Mamma says we get to spend the day with you," Parrin announced, his voice lofty and proud for someone who was only six years old. The boy took after his father, brown hair and hazel eyes. His brother Luc, age four, also took after Anders, except his eyes had more brown and less green in them. Their sister looked like her mother with blonde hair and pale green eyes, though she would be tall. She was only three and already she topped her older brother Luc by an inch. 

Kel heaved a deep sigh. She was supposed to be resting this week, not watching her young relatives. Mindelan was quiet for the first time in Kel's memory. Her parents were with her sisters in the town house in Corus. Inness was out on patrol with Kel's friend Cleon of Kennan and Conal was somewhere on the Scanran border keeping the country safe from raiders. This trip was supposed to give her a break from life, though she knew her parents and Anders had sent her here specifically to keep her mind off being squired to a knight. Fat chance of that, free time only made her think. Perhaps Tilaine was actually being helpful without intention. 

"All right," she said, looking down at the three of them. "Give me a moment and let me get dressed." She walked over to the closet and shut the door. She pulled on a clean pair of breeches, a new, clean, shirt. Grabbing her favorite pair of boots she pulled them on and opened the closet door. 

"So," she called to the three children that stood in her doorway, "what are we going to do today?" 

"I want to go play in the fort," Parrin said haughtily. The fort, of course, was about a mile's ride from Fief Mindelan, and off limits to any child under the age of seven. The fort, as it was titled, was actually an old hunting lodge, full of rusty old weapons and plenty of other sharp objects for a child to hurt him or her-self with, so it was no wonder it was off limits. 

"Parrin, you know you can't go there." 

"I want to go anyway." The young boy glared at her. 

"I want to go too!" cried Luc. 

"Me too!" yelled Aliénor. 

"You can't go," Kel told them firmly. 

"Says who?" Parrin was being a pain. 

"Says I." 

"You aren't the boss of me! I can do whatever I want." Parrin turned around and stalked down the hallway, his step purposeful. Kel didn't like this one bit. 

"So can I!" cried Luc. 

"Me too!" yelled Aliénor. 

The two children followed after their older brother. Kel sighed. The day had barely begun and Kel could already tell that it was going to take forever for it to end. With another sigh, she called Jump and the sparrows and walked quickly out of her room after her niece and nephews. 

She followed them to the stables. "You aren't going," she told them. Luc and Aliénor faltered but Parrin ignored her. He grabbed his pony and pulled himself up on it's bare back. Kel moved before Luc and Aliénor could get on the pony with their older brother. She grabbed Parrin's arm and hauled him off. 

"Ow!" screamed the boy. "Stop it! You're hurting me! I'll tell Mamma!" 

How Parrin had turned out to be such a brat when Lachran, who was only a year older than him, was an angel was a mystery to Kel. Suddenly, Kel was under siege. Aliénor clung to her wrist by her teeth while Luc kicked and punched her with all the might a four year old could muster. It didn't hurt, but Kel released Parrin anyway. The boy jumped back on the pony and before Kel could grab him he took off, racing towards the fort. 

Kel swore silently. Grabbing Luc and Aliénor she whistled to Peachblossom. She quickly saddled him and then, placing her niece and nephew on him first, pulled her-self up and raced after the six year old. 

It didn't take long for him to come back into view, but the pony was nimbler than the cumbersome Peachblossom, and as soon as they reached the forest, Kel lost sight of him. Sighing, Kel slowed Peachblossom to a trot. The big gelding would not be able to make it through the trees at such a fast speed. Jump and the sparrows followed closely behind. 

*** 

Kel road through the woods for what seemed like ages, though it was probably only a half hour or so. It seemed longer because she'd had to stop twice, once for Aliénor to stretch her legs, which were cramping, and once for Luc to relieve himself. When she reached a large clearing, one that she had ridden to often in the past three years, she saw Parrin's pony tethered to the post. Parrin was sitting next to him, snacking on an apple he had obviously gotten from the tree. 

She rode up to him and helped Aliénor and Luc off. "Parrin has an apple. I want an apple too," Luc told her. 

"Me too!" Aliénor cried. 

Kel shook her head. "Those aren't eating apples. They're going to make him sick pretty soon." 

"I don't care, I want one anyway." Luc's incessant whining and demanding attitude was beginning to peeve her. Never again would Kel sigh and complain to herself when one of her friends kindly asked her to do something for them. 

"I'll get you one." Parrin stood up and tossed the core off by the tree. He climbed up and grabbed three of them. He climbed down so swiftly that Kel was dizzy just watching him and handed the apples to his brother and sister. He bit into the third one. "They aren't going to make me sick. They're good." 

Aliénor took one bite of hers and made a face. "Icky!" she said and dropped it on the ground. Luc scowled at his and puckered his lips. But he saw that Parrin kept eating his and continued rather than follow his sister's lead. 

"They are going to make you sick. Besides the fact that they aren't meant for eating, they aren't even ripe." 

"Birds eat them." 

Kel looked at the tree to see the sparrows picking at them. She sighed. "Birds eat worms too. Would you like to dig and find some of those?" 

"Yucky! Worms 'r icky too!" Aliénor was quickly becoming Kel's favorite of the three. Not that worms bothered Kel much. 

"Ali you're such a baby," Parrin snapped at her. "C'mon Luc, let's go get some more." He began to trot off. 

"But I'm not hung-," he began. 

"Luc, don't be such a girl. C'mon." 

Luc scowled at Parrin for being called 'girl' and ran to catch up to his older brother. Together the two climbed the tree. Kel shook her head ruefully. Better stay outside all day. At least she wouldn't have a mess to clean up then. 

"Am not a baby," Aliénor yelled at them. Three of the sparrows flew down; Crown, Freckle, and Arrow – one of this past spring's fledglings. Crown twittered at Kel, scolding her for letting the two boys eat the crab apples. 

"They won't listen to me," she told the head sparrow. "They'll learn to when they're sick though." 

Crown chirped and flew down to sit on Jump's head. Aliénor was being entertained by Arrow, who was doing flips and rolls in the air in front of her. The little girl giggled. Kel sighed and lay down in the sunny meadow, watching the sparrows amuse the three-year-old and the two boys eat sour crab apples 

*** 

An hour later, Aliénor was asleep with her head on a sleeping Jump's stomach. The sparrows had settled all around the young girl and were napping, nestled in her curly blonde hair. A sudden shout brought Kel's attention back to the tree where her nephew's were. 

Luc climbed, down his face pale. He turned and promptly threw up. Kel smiled inwardly as she pushed herself up off the ground and walked over to the sick boy. She held his head for him as he rid his stomach of un-ripe apple. When he was finished she took hold of his shoulder and led him to where his sister was sleeping. He sat down and gratefully accepted the skin of water she offered him. 

"Parrin," she cried. "Come down now please." 

"I'm not sick! Why should I?" 

"Parrin!" she snapped. This was getting unbearable. "Now!" 

"All right, all right." He climbed down slowly, three apples in his hand and one in his mouth. 

Kel shook her head. Obviously it took a while for him to be taught. Well that would be her problem later. For now, she was going to worry about Luc. "You feeling better?" 

He began with a nod, which turned into a headshake. She smiled. "Lie down," she told him "Go to sleep. I'll wake you when it's time to go." He did, and fell asleep instantly. 

Parrin had camped some feet away from them. Kel walked over and sat down in front of him. "Why are you being such a problem today?" 

"My friends make fun of me because of you," he told her. 

"So you don't like me because your friends don't like me?" 

"I don't know if I like you or not. Lachran likes you but you haven't been very nice to me." 

"I would have, had you not run off. And if you'd listen to me. Those apples really are going to make you sick." 

"Just because they made Luc sick doesn't mean they're going to make me sick," he said, but nevertheless, he looked down at them with a bit of distaste. 

"Well, I think I should know. You're Uncle Conal once fed them to me." Admitting the things her older brother had done to her never really come easy. "He laughed when I was sick for three days." 

"Three days?" He looked up at her, eyes wider, and she could see the color draining from his face. She nodded slowly. He looked down at the last half eaten apple. "How many did you eat?" 

"'Bout ten of 'em." Was she actually winning him over? She saw his face grow paler. 

"Luc ate ten," he noted. 

"How many did you eat?" she asked kindly. She never got her answer. He promptly turned around and threw up. 

*** 

It was late in the afternoon when Kel decided to wake up the two boys. Aliénor had woken up about a half hour after Parrin had gone to sleep. She had been playing games with Jump and the sparrows for a good three hours or so. While the animals continued to distract her, Kel had tied the pony to Peachblossom, ordering the ill-tempered gelding to be good. 

Kel knelt down next to the two sick boys. "Parrin. Luc. Get up, we're going home." Luc moaned and sat up slowly. 

"I still don't feel well." 

"I know," she told him. "When we get home, you can clean up and go to bed." 

Parrin had barely opened his eyes. He just groaned. Kel sighed and picked the boy up, carrying him over to his pony. She carefully placed him in the saddle and leaned him forward. Luc was standing at her side. Holding Parrin on with one hand, she picked the four-year-old up and placed him behind his brother. "Hold on to Parrin," she told him. "I'm going to tie you on now." Luc nodded and lay his head on his brother's back. 

When Kel finished tying the two boys to the pony she called for Aliénor, who was still running around in circles chasing after Jump. The little girl ran over to her aunt. Kel helped her up into the saddle and then pulled herself up after her. 

"All right Jump," she told the dog. "Lead the way home." 

*** 

Kel road out of the woods with Aliénor asleep in her lap. Anders, and to her surprise Inness, was waiting for them at the stables. 

"Have a nice day?" Anders asked, his voice filled with sweet innocence. 

"Surprisingly, yes." That obviously was surprising, her brothers' eyes widened. "I did. So did Ali." She handed the young girl over to her father. Inness walked over to the pony and pulled Luc off. 

"Um, Inness, you might want to be careful with them." 

"I think I can handle a couple of sleeping boys Kelly. After all, I've babysat you before." 

"It's not that, it's just," she stopped. 

Parrin had woken up when Inness had untied him and unfortunately, the movement of Inness lifting the boy to his shoulder upset Parrin's gentle stomach. Parrin had just thrown up all over his uncle. 

Anders starred at Inness, and then at Kel. "What just happened?" 

Kel sighed, "They ate from the apple tree." 

"You didn't stop them?" Anders had an amused look on his face. Inness was covered in Parrin's upset stomach fluid, and looked as if he was about to do the same. 

"I tried. They wouldn't listen. They know better now though." She smiled. "They learned to listen to me today." 

"I'm glad something was achieved," Inness said bitterly. 

Cleon of Kennan chose that moment to walk into the stables. "Hey Kel," he said cheerfully. "Where were you all day?" He looked past her and laid eyes on his knight master. He grinned. "Wow. Begging your pardon sir, but what the hell happened to you?" 

"I'd rather not talk about it." 

Cleon raised an eyebrow at Kel, who had since dismounted. "I did try to warn you Inness. Come on Cleon. I'll tell you on the way to the kitchens. I've the greatest craving for an apple." 

THE END 

A/N: Wow. THE END. Never seen that in one of my stories before. 


End file.
